The best ways to position your inventory going into the colder months

Welcome to this week’s episode of Used Cars Weekly, the original CBT News show dedicated to bringing car dealers best practices and tips for the used car department, in-depth dealer interviews, hands-on dealership strategies, as well as vendor analysis. Today, host Jasen Rice, founder of Lotpop, discusses a few statistics and best practices to position your inventory to go into the months of January and February with a strong inventory.

Wholesale is at a record high. In the month of October, this is the first time wholesale has gone up, where traditionally it goes down in the fall season. Make sure you’re aware of Cox Automotive’s, 13-month rolling used vehicle SAAR. Used-vehicle sales were down 13% this year. Retail sales have also been downward.

OEMs, lease returns, and lanes are not running as many cars as they typically would. Rice says if dealers’ retail sales start to slow down, the shopper activity will slow down. He asks the question, where are these cars moving to? Rice says be prepared to go into January and February.

Rice says to make sure you’re positioning your inventory for photos. Also, check the dash shots, and position your cars going into these slower and colder months. Rice says to keep an eye on your local shopper activity. Anything you’re buying is going to be in that 30 to 40-day old in December. Position cars to sell.

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